A tropical low moving towards Queensland's south-east develops into a category one tropical cyclone, which is expected to generate large waves, dangerous surf conditions and higher tides.

A forecast map of Cyclone Linda, taken at approximately 4:00pm AEST on Tuesday. (Credit: ABC)

A tropical low moving towards Queensland's south-east has developed into a category one tropical cyclone.

The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) said Tropical Cyclone Linda is located in the Coral Sea, about 880 kilometres north-east of Sandy Cape and 1,100km east of Mackay.

TC Linda is moving at 32kph south-west towards the Queensland coast and is expected to continue its trajectory for the next 24 hours, before turning south and ultimately south-east away from the coast.

It is not predicted to cross the coast.

The BOM said the cyclone would generate "large waves and dangerous surf conditions" on exposed southern Queensland beaches.

Tides were also expected to be higher than normal, particularly on Thursday, the BOM said.

Cyclone status may not last long

BOM meteorologist Lauren Pattie said the weather system met the criteria to be classified as a cyclone about 4:00pm AEST.

"We need wind gusts around that 90 kilometres per hour range and they need to persist for a period of time — six hours — and they also need to wrap halfway around the system," she said.

"We aren't expecting it to remain a tropical cyclone for an extended period of time.

"We're expecting it to move into a less favourable environment during Wednesday which is why we have it transitioning into a sub-tropical system."

A severe weather warning is in place, and Surf Lifesaving Queensland says it will monitor conditions before deciding whether to close any beaches on the Gold or Sunshine coasts.

At Cleveland, on Brisbane's bayside, residents have been sandbagging properties ahead of potential heavy rain in the coming days.

Natasha Simpson from Capalaba said she was bracing for the wild weather.

"It doesn't normally hit us but it'll just be our luck if we don't do something this time it might," Ms Simpson said.

"We've had a few in the last few years so we're just wanting to get on top of it and make sure we don't get inundated with water."

Another resident, Veronica Petersen, said she was taking a cautious approach.

"All my outdoor furniture is all tidied up and in the garage," she said.

"We're quite organised but because of the heavy rain in the last week we're already very bogged down in our backyard."

World partners:

This service includes material from AAP, Agence France-Presse, APTN, BBC, CNN, Getty, Pacnews, Reuters and other agencies which is copyright and cannot be reproduced, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without written consent.